Many types of cooking systems are known. For example, some cooking systems are designed for outdoor use. One type of outdoor cooking system may be generally referred to as a patio cooker or grill. Patio cookers tend to be large, sturdy cookers with relatively high thermal outputs, and may be designed to cook multiple items at one time. Many patio cookers are intended to be portable in some sense, as they may be mounted on rollers or wheels to allow the cooker to be moved. However, due to the size and weight of many of these cookers, the practical portability of the cookers may be limited to the immediate area of the cooker. Examples of patio cookers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,189,530 and 6,488,022, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Another type of outdoor cooking system may be generally referred to as a portable cooker. Portable cookers tend to be smaller and more lightweight than patio cookers, and thus may be more suitable for camping, tailgating, recreational vehicle use and other such uses in which the cooker must be loaded into, transported by, and unloaded from, a user's vehicle. Portable cookers may be made either for tabletop use, or may have foldout legs to support the cooker above the ground. In either case, portable cookers tend to be less sturdy than patio cookers, and generally offer less thermal output, making them less desirable to use as a home backyard or patio cooker. For this reason, many households end up purchasing separate patio and portable cookers.